First Lady Michelle Obama will be in attendance as a show of respect, but she will not speak at Hadiya’s funeral. I’m not really happy about this…compromise. President Obama said himself that he was not the president of Black America, but all of America. I am in agreement with those who say that he displays too much eagerness rushing to places like Newtown, with a predominantly white population, but not to his hometown. (Not that the president doesn’t belong among the mourners at Newtown, but there is a bit of a tendency to hold black on black shootings at arms length, as if it is simply a local issue, when it is a part of the national debate.)

The tragedy in Chicago occurred less than a mile away from his house in Hyde Park. Supposedly this is “the good part of town.” One cannot go home again, and I doubt whether Obama will ever return there at all, but what if?

This latest gun-related horror begs the question: what if it had been Malia who had been gunned down like that in a public park, and the girl initially maligned by the police and local media as a gang member?

I blame not only the president for his finicky reluctance, but his handlers. He does not have to part the waters, but saying something like he did in Newtown would go far. His friend Rahm Emmanuel is no help at all.

Hundreds of mourners packed a South Side church Saturday morning to say goodbye to Hadiya Pendleton, the bright 15-year-old whose murder made national headlines when she was gunned down by a gang member last month.

First Lady Michelle Obama could not be seen at the Greater Harvest Baptist Church as of 9:45 a.m. but was expected at the services that teemed with Secret Service officers and Chicago Police.

Days before she was shot, Hadiya attended President Barack Obama’s inauguration, performing as a baton-twirling majorette with her King College Prep school band at a party sponsored by U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis. The teen had condemned gun violence in a 2008 public service announcement.

On Saturday, mourners began lining up at 7 a.m. outside the church, 5141 S. State.

They spilled onto the pavement where police had cordoned off the street with metal fencing that ran for blocks.

A swarm of media camera trucks and reporters filled the area across the street where they were held back by the temporary fencing.

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